Yes or No
by blackindiaink
Summary: Things haven't been going well for months so Aubrey comes up with a quick solution. Should Chloe say yes or no... you decide.


A/N: I'm trying a thing here. IF you guys hate it then I'll just discontinue. However, if you like it please submit your selection as a review. You get to choose Chloe's answer so read carefully and consider, Yes or No

* * *

Blank, unholy truth wrecks the mind like selfish misconceptions ruin the soul. This meant that Aubrey was no longer a suitable companion. She could never have helped it because the virus in her mind had swallowed her whole leaving little for Chloe to make sense of. Together became impossible but apart hurt just as much.

The entire experience drained Chloe's heart until there was no more blood there than there were tears to shed. They had the same fight repeatedly. The one where Aubrey took every crack in their love that she could find and exposed it to that which would seep in and erode it all away. Still, the love hung there, an implacable fact that she was mystified by every day.

She wasn't sure why Chloe was still with her because she was no worthy cause and if she was here to save someone then the pity that came with that was not welcome. Chloe didn't know how to counter the downward motion that they were taking but she tried to balance with understanding and leeway. However, she knew that giving so much was impossible for a sustained amount of time.

Her own health was starting to wane. The tension made it almost impossible to relax and in those moments where things went back to how they were before there was still no time to let her guard down. She knew that Aubrey's defenses and her biting, cold shoulder would be back again.

Chloe wasn't completely innocent. Coming into this relationship she had known that Aubrey played for keeps and Chloe wasn't used to that. The adjustment was hard and Aubrey was sensitive to every screw up, every unintentional flirtation towards someone that wasn't her. This was like a ready made serious relationship from the beginning. All she did was add herself and they became what they were always destined to be, a lock and the only key that opened it.

Now, when Aubrey got home late from the library Chloe wondered if she avoiding her and their situation. It gave her far too much time to think dangerous thoughts. Remembering when they were happy was her solace but the reason she was remembering those times was less than a comfort.

That night after she had made her lonely dinner for one she had made a decision, and as a result she was waiting for Aubrey because they were going to get this out. The limit of heartache she could take had reached critical mass. Now, was the time to talk about it before things exploded. If they did she didn't even see them ever being friends again, let alone girlfriends.

The door knob finally turned and Chloe shut off the TV. There would be no distractions. Aubrey walked through the doorway and set her things down. Chloe's heart picked up rhythm until a crescendo was inevitable. The feelings evoked by seeing Aubrey gave her pause. She had a feeling that if she brought this up something major was going to happen in a negative way.

Her Perfect hair and delicately sculpted features were so familiar but still exciting. Aubrey's presence in general still gave her the same thrill it did when they were new, and full of fire and lust. It was still there, the rumble of her need awakening but the sorrow dampened it so it didn't reach the surface.

"Can you sit down?" Chloe asked before she could change her mind. If she let things go on now, she was just enabling them both. "I want to talk to you about something."

The tick in Aubrey's face was barely perceptible but Chloe caught it since she was long since attuned to every quirk and gesture. Still she sat down across from Chloe in the armchair that they had picked out together on their anniversary.

Aubrey knew this was a serious conversation. None of Chloe's usual greetings involved a grim face of determination. She was thrown and felt herself complying to the request without question. "What is it?" They hadn't spoken much lately and their nights together had been spent going through routines that they had developed through their two years together as individuals rather than a couple.. Eating dinner, brushing teeth, taking showers, sitting silent in the same room, and worst of all sleeping on separate sides of the bed. They were coexisting, not living together.

Now, she saw words about to tumble out of Chloe that would change them forever. Her fears of where they were going sent flares up behind her eyes, making them water. She just knew. She felt the end approaching as early as last night when she had yelled at Chloe for leaving clothes in the dryer. It seemed like a little thing but on the back of her distant, cold behavior and the amount of time that it had been going on, it was the a catalyst. One that she was powerless against.

Chloe could give no more, Her head was full up with the words of frustration and disgust with Aubrey's attempts to push her away. "Do you even know what's going on? How I've been feeling for the last few months." She watched the blank sheet that was Aubrey's face for reaction but there was none. She shook her head feeling a mighty fury rise in her. If Aubrey wasn't going to even fight for them then what was the point.

"If you don't even care then we should br..."

"Will you marry me?" Aubrey cut Chloe's words off completely, like a knife cutting through over ripe fruit.

The question made her stop and wonder if her hearing had faltered. "What?"

The light came on behind Aubrey's eyes and she sat forward in the chair. She reached out and toook Chloe's hand. "Marry me." Some spirit had taken hold of her, a determination to correct the mistakes made through conditioned misjudgement of herself. She wouldn't lose Chloe, not like her father had lost her mother. This was too important. Chloe was the one thing in her life she cared enough about to project her insecurities on, which was the very reason why they were here.

Chloe shook her head, not even knowing if this moment was real. "Are you being serious right now?" If this was a joke she was going to lose it and Aubrey would be left right there in their living room wondering how Chloe had vacated her life so quickly.

Aubrey nodded with solemn sageness and dropped to one knee, nearly making Chloe burst out laughing for lack of a clearer response. "You really are serious,' Chloe uttered. She was completely bewildered.

"I've been a complete dumbass, treating you so badly but it was because I didn't know how else to do it. I just woke up and couldn't believe that you were still with someone like me." Now, she was letting the festered emotions leave her and she felt cleansing tears falling down her cheeks. "You're amazing and I'm just not sometimes. At least, not when it counts. I might be good at some things but love isn't one of them."

Words were not within Chloe's power. She gripped Aubrey's hand like it was the only thing holding her here, telling her that this was real. How could something she had thought was over just start fresh, from a point where they were even more together than before. Could Aubrey change her behavior and could they take such a drastically new direction?

* * *

Should Chloe say yes or no?


End file.
